How to Carve a Pumpkin

Posted on September 3rd, 2009 by Elaine

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Halloween season is on its way! Aside from the costume parties, the creepy stories and trick-or-treating, there’s one famous tradition many people follow when this holiday comes: making jack-o-lanterns. If you’ve got a creative edge, you might be interested in carving your own pumpkin. It’s not hard to do.

What You’ll Need:

Pumpkin
Old newspapers
Scalpel or small knife
Large knife
Large spoon or ice cream scoop
Candles or small lights
Dry erase marker
Paper towels

Procedure:

Pick out a nice and healthy-looking ripe pumpkin. Choose one with a long stem, so you’ll have an easy lid handle, and accessing the inside will be easy. Make sure it doesn’t have any cuts, nicks or bruises on its skin. Wash the pumpkin thoroughly, removing dirt and other grime from its surface. Dry with a paper towel.

pumpkin carving

Choose a design for your pumpkin. You can make it scary, goofy or funny. You can sketch the design on a scratch paper first, so you’ll have a reference later on.
Lay down old newspapers on the surface where you’re working on, for easy cleaning later on. This can turn out to be a messy project.
Measure two to four inches from the stem of the pumpkin, and make a small mark with it. This is where you’re going to cut the lid. Use a sharp and large kitchen knife, so you’ll make a fine and straight cut.
Remove the lid, then use the knife to scrape the underside, so the excess filling will be removed and the surface becomes flat.
Scoop out all of the pumpkin guts, filling and the seeds from inside the pumpkin, using a large spoon or an ice cream scoop. You can set these aside for making pumpkin cake or toasted pumpkin seeds. Scrape as much goop as you can, so when you put in the light, the pumpkin will glow brighter. Scrape the bottom very well so your light will stand properly, and won’t tip over and burn the whole pumpkin.
Draw the design on the pumpkin’s surface. A dry erase marker pen is great, since when you make a mistake, you can easily erase it.
Cut the shapes you made using a small knife or a scalpel. There are also carving tools available today, made especially for carving pumpkins. Trace the design with a back and forth motion, gently, but firmly. Keep following the pattern, until the design has been carved entirely.
Push out the carved pumpkin pieces gently, so they pop out.
Put a candle or an LED light inside the pumpkin. Replace the lid, and see how your pumpkin looks.

Some Tips:

This is a great project parents and kids can do together. Just make sure you don’t let children use the sharp objects.
Carved pumpkins can go bad after a couple of weeks, so prepare this a day or two before the holiday.
Add other accessories to your pumpkin, such as a hat, yarn for hair and even spooky tree branches as arms.

Decorate your lawn with festive, but spooky-looking jack-o-lanterns you made yourself. Just be careful when handling the sharp materials, so you won’t end up with a bloody Halloween! For more information on Halloween decorations, read the Ten MacGuyver-approved Halloween decorations and as an addition learn how to make a Jack O’ Lantern costume.